Watch CBS News

65 Years After Going Missing, Soldier's Remains Returned To Colorado

CENTENNIAL, Colo. (CBS4) - Army Cpl. Floyd J.R. Jackson was a 19-year-old infantryman on the front lines during the Korean War in December 1950 when Chinese forces overran his battalion near the Chosin Reservoir and he was captured.

For decades the Littleton teen's family has waited and wondered what happened to him.

Then in January they got a call that answered their questions.

Human remains had been pulled out of the ground from an old North Korean prison camp that matched the DNA samples they had provided of the soldier 10 years ago.

It turns out a few weeks after being captured by the enemy, Jackson died in a prison camp, where conditions were horrible and diseases were common.

Floyd Jackson
Floyd Jackson (credit: CBS)

On Thursday morning, Jackson's remains were carefully returned to his family with full military honors.

His coffin was draped in an American flag and carried off a jetliner at Denver International Airport as men and women in uniform stood watch.

"He's home," Kackson's niece Joann Mueller said on the tarmac.

Then a long chain of police cars led a somber procession for Jackson from the airport to Centennial. Along the way, firefighters delivered slow salutes and police stood watch.

Procession (2)
(credit: CBS)
Procession (1)
(credit: CBS)

At the mortuary where the coffin was taken firefighters suspended a flag from a hook-and-ladder truck.

Procession (3)
(credit: CBS)

Mueller told CBS4 on Wednesday that the discovery is "just a big relief for the whole family."

"It feels like it's been a miracle and a lifetime," she said. "We never thought this would ever happen."

Jackson will be laid to rest next to his mother with full military honors Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Olinger Chapel Hill Cemetery.

Floyd J.R. Jackson
Cpl. Floyd J.R. Jackson (credit: Jackson Family)

Mueller said she has a message for her uncle and all of the American heroes who have served their country.

"I give them all my heart and all my love," she said.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.